Grieving for the Lost
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~| Grieving for the Lost by BladeOfHope Everything seemed to be in pain. Fire erupted around the dragons fighting in the sky and on the ground, burning everything in its path without mercy or discrimination. It turned the whole world bright red. Those caught in its grasp screamed as the flames latched hold of them, writhing in agony but unable to escape. She noticed the dark scales of her friends smoking like coals as their own assault backfired on them. The distinctly twisted claws of her brother reached out to her. His face was contorted into a permanent grimace, his scales having been melted together by the fire. His eyes were pleading for her to help him, and his hand trembled as he tried to touch her. Horrified, she flinched away. Before she could even apologize, the fire surged forward and devoured him before her very eyes. You'll never escape! A voice seemed to be whispering to her from the wind. I will find you - I will ''kill you!'' She couldn't see anyone else. She tried to call for help, but she inhaled smoke instead and started to cough uncontrollably. "Help," she rasped. "Somebody..." There will be no help for you. The flames began to lick at her talons, and she screamed, her voice ragged and hoarse and broken. The voice started yelling at her, insulting her, telling her that she would burn alive and no one would escape unscathed. She stepped backwards, trying to go somewhere, anywhere, to escape the voice, but her claws slipped over the edge of a cliff and she fell - E''verflight!'' Moonseer jolted awake, tears running down her face and her claws gripping at her thundering heart before she even realized what she was doing. Everflight... I'm so sorry...! She sucked in ragged breaths of air, ashamed and confused and terrified and - I'm... not burning. Suddenly realizing that the fire was gone, she patted herself all over her arms and wings and body, feeling no burns or melted scales or bruises. She was fine. Everything was fine. It had all just been a dream. Looking around in the dim light, Moonseer found that she was still in her sleeping-cave, where she'd fallen asleep just a little bit ago. Sometime during that nightmare, her two cave-mates had crept inside. She wondered, with a pang of anxiety, if they had seen her writhing in pain like the burning dragons in her dream. Fortunately, she hadn't woken either of them when she burst back into reality. Peering quickly into their minds, she was relieved to find nothing wrong with either of them. Mango was being smothered by a mountain of friendly sloths; his scales were shifting rapidly between sloth-fur gray and the bright colors of amused, befuddled happiness. Apex, on the other hand, was grunting and snuffling and dreaming about hunting penguins. Neither of them was having omens about the world burning down. Moonseer took a deep breath and climbed down off of her perch in the cave. Her legs felt shaky and unstable, but she managed to make her way to the entrance of the cave and peer out into the tunnel. Everflight... Everflight, please answer me... Within seconds, her brother's groggy voice echoed back to her. What is it? Do you need something? He sounded tired, and Moonseer felt bad, knowing that she'd woken him. Don't feel bad. She got the impression of him sitting up, rolling on his stiff joints and trying to find a comfortable position. He shuffled for a while, and then finally he snorted with contentment. What's wrong? It was... a nightmare... Moonseer sent the fleeting remnants of her dream over to him. The fragments of memory were twisted and unusually vivid, though disconnected as they were they didn't make much sense. Everflight waded through all of the pieces, turning them over in his mind and weighing them against his thoughts. Moonseer could feel all this, but his actual thoughts were guarded by a wall of sheep wool, at least until he lowered the wall and told her, It doesn't seem like an omen. Yeah, but... Moonseer trailed off, afraid to voice her concerns. It's just... Want to check with Dreamreader? Everflight offered. I can't feel him right now, so he's probably recording stuff right now, but we can go and find him. No... that's okay. Can you meet me out in the main cavern, though? I don't want to be alone... Sure. I'll be right there. Moonseer pulled away from her brother's mind and walked over to the entrance of her cave. Even back in the dark recesses of the tunnels, there was always light when it was day. Judging by the near-darkness surrounding her, Moonseer guessed that it was almost dawn. Glancing over her shoulder one last time to make sure her cave-mates were still asleep, she crept into the tunnel and made her way towards the common cavern. She didn't see any other dragons awake along the way. However, when the tunnel widened into the common cavern, there was a dragon practicing his fighting maneuvers in the middle of the training space. The dragonet seemed too big to be one of the trainees, but he was going through all the proper sequences they'd been taught. He twisted and dove and rolled like a master, his orange scales bright even in the dim light. All of his movements were fluid, to the point of being nearly perfect. Moonseer narrowed her eyes. Swift. What's he doing up so early? The muscular SkyWing dragonet - though, really, he was almost too old to be called a dragonet - finally stopped fighting and stood there panting, his eyes angled up towards the statues around the upper rim of the cavern but not really focused on anything in particular. Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete) Category:Content (BladeOfHope) Category:Fanfictions Category:Fanfictions (Fanon)